News

As part of the Creepy House Summer Reading Challenge, Wokingham Borough Libraries is offering family heritage walks around Wokingham and Twyford on Wednesday July 24.

People can find out about the areas and some of their local tales. The 45 minute walks are free and will start and finish at both local libraries giving those taking part the chance to also look at the local history collections.

The walks are being run by The Wokingham Society and the Twyford and Ruscombe Local History Society, in conjunction with the borough’s library service.

The Wokingham walk will focus on the story of James ‘Sooty’ Seaward, from child chimney sweep to town councillor and possible inspiration for Tom in ‘The Water Babies’. It is aimed at families with children aged six to 12, and is due to start at 11am.

The Twyford walk will explore some of the heritage of Twyford Village and the history of the buildings.

It is also aimed at families with children aged six to 12, but this one is due to start at 3pm.

Anyone wanting to book a place should call in advance either Wokingham Library on (0118) 9781368, or Twyford Library (0118) 934 0800.

Wokingham Borough Council’s has selected RHS Gold Medal and BBC People’s choice award-winning play space designers Davies White Landscape Architects to create the £500,000 destination play space, which is planned to open in April 2014. Work is due to start this September, funded by developer’s contributions, and be ready for children to enjoy next spring.

Young visitors have already given the new play space their thumbs up after they viewed a model of the proposals. Its design reflects valuable feedback from residents and other groups on the type of play features suitable for children with a wide range of abilities. Interested people can view the model at the Civic Offices, Shute End until Wednesday July 17 and at Dinton Pastures from Thursday July 18 for the foreseeable future.

At the northern part of the play space there will be a woodland picnic area, den-building structures, swinging hanging logs and mining tunnel entrance encouraging underground exploration and the building of their own play structures. There will also be a woodland obstacle course.

For more adventurous, proposals include giant nest towers – the tallest being just under four metres, overlooking the duck pond.

The central area will feature many more traditional play features as well as a number of exciting new editions including a funnel net trap, play bridge and troll holes, and a leaf shelter. The giant climbing logs, sourced locally, will be three metres high with hand grips. Funnel trap nests will mean young children can play with older ones, as well as able-bodied and disabled all together.

Joining the main mounds will be a timber bridge connecting two large grassy mounds with a secret hidey-hole. Another popular feature set to be installed is a zip wire. Toddlers will not miss out either, with dedicated space featuring swings, a willow maze and a huge giant log. A large storytelling area will also be created using giant wooden eggs.

Visitors to the park can currently enjoy golf, sailing, boat hire, climbing, walking, and great food; as well as being able to observe wildlife.

The Vision for Dinton Pastures programme was agreed by the council in 2009 and has seen facilities at The Dragonfly Café upgraded with a new kitchen, extension and toilet block. The Dinton Multi-Activity Centre has benefited from new equipment and now offers a wide range of activities including sailing, canoeing, rock climbing, bush craft, orienteering and team building days. A Changing Places toilet also opened earlier this year boasting a shower, hoist and changing table designed for visitors with profound mobility problems and/or learning difficulties.

Families can learn a lullaby for woolly mammoths, build a dragon, or write their own monster inspired poems at Wokingham Borough libraries on Thursday July 25.

The sessions, run by madcap poet and guitarist James Carter, are aimed at children aged six to 11 and cost £3.50 per person, or £12 for family ticket of four. People should contact the library to book.

The events will run at the following libraries all on the same day; Wokingham Library from 10.30am to 11.30am, Lower Earley Library from 1pm to 2pm and at Woodley Library from 3pm to 4pm.

James Carter’s book ‘Grrr!: Dinos, Dragons and Other Beastie Poems’, is one of the books children can read as part of the Creepy House Summer Reading Challenge at the borough’s libraries.

The challenge encourages children to read six books of their choice borrowed from the library during the summer. Children will receive rewards as they work their way through the challenge. There’s a medal and certificate if they complete the challenge, and the chance to win a book-filled goody bag. There are 30 of these bags up for grabs.

Anyone wanting to find out more about the Summer Reading Challenge events taking place during the coming months should visit the Summer Reading Challenge page. Alternatively call (0118) 978 1368 or visit their local library.

The California Paddling Pool is now open:

Term-time weekdays from 10am to 4pm
Weekends days 9.30am to 5.30pm
From 20 July 2013 open from 9.30am to 5.30pm daily – weather dependent
Price is £1.50 per person for anyone entering – payable via the car park machines. Exact change will be needed as no change is given on site.

The pool will remain open until approximately 8 September 2013.

Wokingham council is hosting an information event on 18 July from 5.30pm to 8pm at the Luke Room, Wokingham Methodist Church, Rose Street, Wokingham, RG40 1XS.

These sessions aim to provide the information to help you decide whether fostering is for you. The Placement team will be delighted to answer any queries you might have about fostering and one of our experienced foster carers will also be on hand to share their experiences.

Call 0118 974 6204 to find out about training, financial and practical support.

The Secretary of State for Education has decided that the Glyn Learning Foundation (GLF Schools) should run the new schools in Woosehill and Winnersh currently being built by Wokingham Borough Council.

Construction of the one-form entry schools by the council is on track with the buildings now on site at Smith’s Walk in Woosehill and at Winnersh Farm. Both schools are due to be ready this autumn.

The borough council had recommended GEMS Education to the Secretary of State for Education as its preferred education provider to run the new schools, but the minister has opted to go with the Surrey based educational foundation.

GLF Schools is a cross phase multi-academy trust based at Glyn School; an outstanding secondary school in Surrey. The DfE has confirmed that it can run the new schools in Wokingham from this September.

GLF Schools has said its admissions arrangements for this year will be co-ordinated with, and similar to, Wokingham Borough Council’s. The final admissions arrangements are currently being drawn up.

Additional parents who wish to express an interest for the new schools should email [email protected]. Parents who have already expressed an interest do not need to do so again.

An information evening is being held at The Forest School, Robinhood Lane, Winnersh on Wednesday July 10 between 7 and 9pm, where prospective parents can meet the GLF Schools leadership team, find out about the new schools and ask questions.

To attend the meeting, parents are invited to book their place by emailing [email protected].

Parents can find out more about GLF Schools by visiting the websites of its existing schools at www.glynschool.org or www.danetreeschool.org. Additional background information is also available on the website of its new school in Redhill – also starting this September – at www.limetreeschool.org or for general details at www.glfschools.org which is due to go live shortly.

For updates about admissions and the new schools please check the Wokingham Borough schools Facebook page or the admissions page. Alternatively, contact the admissions team on (0118) 974 6225 or email GLF Schools at [email protected].

My Journey Wokingham website is a fun new website giving people in the Wokingham Borough a single source of travel and transport information, money saving travel tips and much more.

The My Journey Wokingham campaign is part of Wokingham Borough Council’s Local Sustainable Transport Fund (LSTF) programme funded by the Department for Transport.

It is one of a number of schemes under the LSTF umbrella being created across the Wokingham Borough to help residents and businesses improve their travel experiences and also benefit the environment.

Children aged five and under are invited to dress up as their favourite fairy tale characters at Wokingham Borough libraries as part of a series of events, to celebrate National Bookstart Week.

Children will be able to listen to fairy tales, rhymes and create their own fairy tale pictures. A free copy of The Ugly Duckling will also be given to families at the events to encourage mums, dads and carers to read with their children every day. National Bookstart Week helps remind families that reading books with their child is one of the nicest activities they can share.

Claire Groves, under-fives library officer, said: “We’re all really excited about the National Bookstart Week fairy tale events at our libraries and children’s centres this year. We will all be running as fast as we can to catch the gingerbread man and hiding from the big bad wolf.”

The events will run on the following dates and times:

Tuesday June 25 at Woodley Library from 10am to 11am
Wednesday June 26 at Winnersh Library from 10am to 11am
Wednesday June 26 at Woodley Airfield Youth Centre from 1.30pm to 2.30pm
Thursday June 27 at Wokingham Library from 10am to 11am
Friday June 28 at Finchampstead Library from 11am to 12noon
Monday July 1 at Riverdale Children’s Centre from 9.30am to 11.30am
Thursday July 4 at Ambleside Children’s Centre from 10am to 11am
Monday July 8 at the Red-Kite Children’s Centre from 9.30am to 11.30am

Residents aged over 50 in the Wokingham Borough are invited to attend the annual SHINE Games on Wednesday July 10 and try out a variety of sports and activities totally free of charge!

SHINE is a physical activity programme for over 50s run by Wokingham Borough Council’s sports and leisure team, offering over fifty classes every week.

The SHINE Games take place at Loddon Valley Leisure Centre from 10am to 2.30pm and are open to everyone aged over 50. There will be lots of activities for people to try out on the day, such as those included on the SHINE programme including Pilates, seated exercise, Latino dance and Nordic walking, to name just a few. There will also be the chance for residents to try their hand at something completely different such as trampolining, golf, boxercise, netball or table tennis – no prior experience is necessary.

Booking is not compulsory but it is recommended to avoid disappointment. A booking form and more information is available on the SHINE page or by calling (0118) 974 3726.

is helping to cover the costs of buses travelling from the Henley and Remenham area to help people get home as quickly as possible after the festivities end.

This year, Reading Buses will be providing two bus services travelling to both Reading and High Wycombe at a cost of £7 per person. In previous year’s there has also been a service to Twyford, however records showed that this was only used by a very small number of people and therefore the service will not be operating this year.

Details of this year’s bus services are:

On Friday July 5 and Saturday July 6, a bus service will be leaving from Henley Railway Coach Station (HR1) to Reading Bus Station; the first bus will leave at 10.30pm and operate every 20 minutes until 2.30am.

On Saturday July 6, a bus service will be leaving from Hart Street, Henley (HR2) to High Wycombe Railway Station, leaving at 0.30am.

Helping people get away quickly from the area at the end of the day during the weekend of the Royal Regatta has a positive effect upon reducing crime and anti-social behaviour in the area. This has proved successful in recent years, and helped contribute to a 21% overall reduction in crime at last year’s Henley Royal Regatta.

As with previous year’s, a designated public place order is in place and will be enforced during the Royal Regatta. This means that the police have the power to ask someone to stop drinking alcohol if they are behaving, or are likely to behave, in an anti-social way.